Employee rights - legal and morale argument for health and safety
Employees have the right to work in a safe place of work. Employer has a duty of care for their employees and must implement applicable control measures for all identified risks. The expectation is that employees will take care of themselves at work and the safety of others and that they will help their employer in providing safe workplace. This includes co-operating with their employer, attending training sessions organised, follow safe working practices as provided.
The financial argument for health & safety
An injury at work can have much bigger financial consequences for the company and an injured party than the cost of implementation of proactive measures and investing in health and safety. Organisations can insure only very limited percentage of all costs that follow the serious incident at work. The insured costs are typically involving injury cover, ill health cover, damage cover. The uninsured costs associated with serious incidents at work include product or material damage, plant damage, tool or equipment damage, legal costs, fines but also loss of production time, downtime, loss of talent, time for investigation, sick pay, temporary labour cost, loos of reputation, contracts.
How does good H&S management impact profits?
No one wants to get hurt at work. When the organisation does not invest in health and safety the first impact on the organisation is poor morale. Employees if engaged they feel better, their voice is listened and they feel like their opinions are valued. Effective health and safety management should result in the workforce embracing health and safety guidance and adopting safe working practices as well as engaging in health and safety initiatives. Employers can achieve much more motivated workforce, less absenteeism, improved productivity but also generation of new ideas that can help the organisation to grow.
How to find a right balance?
Depending on the organisation's size and profitability there will be different options available for different organisations. While many big companies can afford purchasing new equipment, investing in EHS cloud based systems and employing best in class health and safety teams, there will be organisations that struggle financially. The obligation to manage health and safety stays and must be taken into consideration while planning business strategies. Small companies must bring a competent body to help with managing health and safety in the organisation and assessing the risk. But they also must take steps to reduce risks within reasonably practicable manner. Foundations must be implemented everywhere, prioritization based on the risk rating is a good way for a start, making sure employees receive appropriate training is important, but also having in mind that a small investment in welfare may bring much better outcomes than nothing
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